The papers in this volume were presented at the conference: Minorities in a multicultural society, which was the culminating event in the project: The encouragement of the optimal development of personallity and intellect of socioculturally disadvantaged children as a way towards respecting human rights. The project researchers were psychologists from the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, supported by psychologists from the Universities of Ulster and Nottingham in the UK. The project was funded by the British Foreign Office Human Rights Project Fund, and the conference also by the Council of Europe, by the Czech Ministry of Schools, Youth and Sport, and by the City of Brno. Most of the contributions are from the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria in former communist central Europe and from the UK, with papers also from Portugal, Israel and the Netherlands.